One of the biggest problems we cause in our service to readers (yes, you read that correctly, "we cause"), is that we approach our interactions with our readers as if they are as plugged in to the entire book world as we are.
Yes library patrons do know more about the book world than you average person off the street, but they are not as aware as we are. We often forget that they haven't read all of last year's buzzy books let alone those from a few years ago. They barely remember the 2025 busy titles and they don't even remember those from 2024 or later. Most of us barely do. But they are all great reads.
Yes they are hearing about the newest books like we are, but they need us to remind them of the great books they missed. As I have said here and in my training programs many times before-- our job is to let people know about the books they would not find without our help.
This is something that BookTok gets correct by the way. Yes it is annoying when there is a book that we had forgotten about, maybe even weeded, that goes viral on there, but most of the time, the books those reader/influencers are "discovering" is a backlist title that we know about but have forgotten to promote to our readers in a while.
The vast majority of the books we have in our collections are NOT on the new shelf. I know this sounds obvious but admit it, you forget about the gems in the stacks in favor of the new shelf all the time.
And honestly, our patrons tend to care about the newest books for 2 reasons. 1. They are a fan of that authors and are excited for a new title. 2. Those are the books everyone is talking about so they figure, these titles must be worth a try. And 2a. it is very hard and overwhelming to find a good read in the shelves and shelves and shelves of titles to choose from. Where do they begin? Oh look here is a shelf of books that came out in the last 6 months. I'll start there.
So how do we help them consider all of their options when looking for a good read. Well one way to begin is something I also talk and write about all of the time-- conversation starters. We should be helping people find books based on natural language questions, vibes, or very wide appeal factors. This is how we can connect people with books they will enjoy overall without worrying about what happens in the books. Again, another thing I write and talk about all the time-- we need to focus on why someone would like the book, and not focus on what happens in it.
And here is a great example of how to do this from Goodreads' Blog entitled Personality Picks! 136 Book Recommendations for (Nearly) Every Type of Reader. From the introduction.
What kind of reader are you?
That’s the thesis question for our Personality Picks collection of book recommendations, an experimental new sorting technique that we’re developing here in the Goodreads Labs. Our editorial team is constantly researching better and more efficient ways to turn a big pile of books into lots of littler piles of books.
As such, the categories below are based on common reader types we’ve observed in the Goodreads ecosystem and in the wild. This is a carefully curated collection and can be useful in a couple of different ways. If you think you know your reader type (or the reader type for whom you are buying a gift), then just jump to the appropriate header below: the Eternal Optimist Reader, for instance, or the Vibes Reader.
On the other hand, you can work backward and just scan below for the books you’ve already read or that you want to read. If you find a significant cluster, then scroll up to see your reader type. You may discover that you’re an Avant Garde Reader, or a Snug-at-Home Reader, or maybe an "I Just Listened to an NPR Segment About That" Reader.
We’ve also thrown in a few playful categories as we work out the proper taxonomy system. The Random Hyperfixation Reader, for example, may look hauntingly familiar.
Click here to see the lists. But notice, these are natural language categories that include a variety of titles from multiple genres. That is how readers think.
You should use them to make some displays and lists. Idea-- use the title from Goodreads and put post-it notes on the books identifying the personality type. Mix them all up in one display. Or post the Goodreads link to your online spaces and ask people to leave comments as to what they would add to the lists.
You can also make up your own "personalities" and books to add to the mix. All of this show your community that you are thinking like a reader, trying to connect your collections to their interests in a way that prioritizes finding them a great read that they could not have found without your help.
Most of the work is done for you here, but you can also take it a step further and get your patrons involved as well. Go here and follow my conversation starter to displays advice and learn how to get them to suggest books and personality types to you so you can make them a part of your displays and lists.
But, and this is the but that will get you off your butt to do this extra step....while gathering patron input is fun and shows them that you are listening to them, this "reader personality" version of my Conversation Starter to Display exercise is extremely useful to plan your collections and service to readers. Why? Well because when you ask your readers what their "reading personality" is (especially when you give examples to get them started thinking about it) you are actually asking them to tell you what their favorite appeal factors are!
Appeal factors are how we library workers think, and "reading personality" is simply a way to ask this in regular person language. When we do this we are thinking like our readers. And the resulting answers we will collect will give us a glimpse of what they like to read and why. This allows us to make better purchasing choices and provide displays and lists to help them navigate all of the books we have already under our roofs; titles they would love if only they knew about them.
This post is an example of how I think you should be working with your readers all of the time. For some, this is a huge change in direction, but it isn't hard because we are all readers too. Connect with your own inner reader and I promise, you will have happier patrons.
